Actress Heather Brooker celebrates her Tulsa roots

The former Tulsan, who now lives in LA, feels at home on the screen and behind the mic.

By Jordan Cox

Heather Brooker and her daughter, Channing, in Santa Monica, California. Brooker has lived in Los Angeles for 14 years.

Stephanie McGann/Ographr

For Tulsa native Heather Brooker, life has been a serendipitous boomerang. This actress-podcaster-reporter finds her Tulsa roots woven throughout her career.

The Metro Christian Academy and Oklahoma State University journalism alum now makes her home in Los Angeles, with her former-Tulsa-DJ-turned-finance-guy husband, Chris Brooker. Her acting resume boasts roles on shows like “The Office,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Commander and Chief” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” but she landed her most meaningful gig in 2013 when she became mother to daughter Channing.

Although motherhood is many wonderful things, Brooker realized it’s far from the Hollywood norm. She began to look for ways to cultivate a community. But rather than scheduling playdates at the park, she turned her quest into a podcast. “You have to search for your people who are also parents,” she says.

In 2015, she launched Motherhood in Hollywood, a podcast and social media presence dedicated to creating kindred connections of show biz colleagues and telling their stories. Her guests run the gamut of personalities and professionals in the entertainment industry, many of them accompanied by their children who play with Channing while the grown-ups record.

In 2017, Brooker was working part time for NBC in Los Angeles when Amy Calvert, Brooker’s Tulsa friend and general manager at KJRH, heard her podcast and asked her to do some affiliated work for the Tulsa station. Brooker’s Tulsa roots, coupled with her podcast, motherhood and — let’s face it — her charming personality, landed her current job as digital entertainment reporter at NBC Los Angeles, where she interviews celebs and covers red carpet events.

“Everything goes back to my roots in Oklahoma and comes from family and friends in Oklahoma,” she says.

Check out Heather’s podcast, “Motherhood in Hollywood,” wherever you listen to podcasts. Tune into NBC LA via Facebook on Sept. 22 to watch her coverage of the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards.